By Miguel Rivera
Some were surprised and some weren't, when on Friday it was officially announced that Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) would return to 154-pounds to challenge undefeated Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs) for the WBO world championship.
The title fight will take place on September 17th, likely from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It would be Canelo's third consecutive fight in Las Vegas and his third in a row on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Canelo's last five fights took place at 155-pounds, which is one above junior middleweight.
Canelo moved up to middleweight last November sort of, and capture the WBC crown with a twelve round decision over Miguel Cotto at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Although the 160-pound title as at stake, the two fighters agreed to have their fight take place at 155.
Canelo made a single defense of the belt, last month and also at 155, and knocked out Amir Khan in the sixth round at the T-Mobile Arena.
He was then ordered to face WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin in the fall. Canelo, under pressure from the WBC, vacated the title and it was awarded by default to Golovkin.
According to Canelo's manager, Jose 'Chepo' Reynoso, this move proves to the critics that his fighter is a natural junior middleweight and never had any weight issues when it came to making the division limit.
There was an agreement, at least verbal, to face Golovkin next September, but this move may be a sign that Canelo is not ready to test the middleweight waters for a while.
"There were a lot of rumors about [Canelo's] weight. Now Saul returns to his natural weight, 154 pounds. 160 pounds is still further away, so he's going to return by fighting for a world title against an undefeated British boxer and I think it's a good fight . This fight will take place at 154 pounds and we will probably go to 160 pounds in the future, but for now this fight is taking place at this weight," said Reynoso to ESPN Deportes.